The Master of My Own Fate - HIATUS
by Wildheart of Obelisk Blue
Summary: What if Ward hadn't been found by Garrett, but instead by Coulson? What if Ward had the chance to be the master of his own fate, rather than be manipulated by Garrett from the beginning? This is a story that covers my view on both of those things. Also, some other interesting twists! AU, Pairings: Skyward, OOC due to personalities of certain characters changing due to experiences.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** When I got the idea for this storyI asked myself a few questions.

What kind of person would Grant Ward be if he had been found by Coulson, rather than Garrett?

What would have happened if Ward had been the "master of his own fate" rather than be manipulated by Garrett from the start?

This story is how I envisioned the tv show to go if he had been the master of his own fate from the start. Let's see how far we can take this. Plans are just to go and take this idea as far as I can, and more importantly with your, the readers help, as far as we can. Reviews, ideas and any feedback is always appreciated!

Now, wheels up in 3,2,1.

* * *

 **Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D**

 **Master of My Own Fate**

 **Chapter I - Beginnings**

The first beams of sunlight were appearing into the horizon as a new morning was beginning at S.H.I.E.L.D's super secret base; The Hub. Regardless of the early hour, the base was swarmed by people running errands, and delivering paperwork. Some agents were rushing into their mission briefings, while others were just waking up or hitting the dojo to practice their martial arts techniques. Scientists were running tests and experimenting, while engineers worked on numerous top secret, cutting edge inventions to help the Agents on their missions. Everything pointed towards another normal day at S.H.I.E.L.D. Just another day at the office.

However for Agent Coulson it was not _"Just another day at the office."_ Today was the day that the kid he had found from the woods, almost exactly 5 years ago would finally graduate from S.H.I.E.L.D Academy of Operations. This was the day that Grant Ward would become a S.H.I.E.L.D Agent. All that was left was the formal ceremony in which every cadet would receive their badge and would sign the Non-Disclosure Agreement, agreeing to keep all S.H.I.E.L.D intel and other sensitive data secret from the public.

The ceremony was due to start at 7:00AM, in one of the conference halls at The Hub, and Coulson was already late. He had come back from an operation late last night, and had - breaking his habits - overslept his alarms and was now running for dear life towards Conference Room 84.

A couple sets of stairs, an elevator ride and a whole lot of running and sverving past other agents later Coulson finally made it to the ceremony.

"And now our final graduating Cadet, the Academy's prodigy Grant Ward!" The ceremony master, Agent Noah Wilkinson announced to the microphone, just as Coulson opened the door. A fairly tall man, with black hair slicked back, a muscular build, and hazel brown eyes was walking up to the front of the room where Wilkinson was waiting for him. Both of the men wore matching black suits, complete with a black tie.

"Congratulations, you made it Ward." Noah said, while handing Grant his badge.

"Thank you, sir." Ward replied with a small nod as an expression of gratitude.

He took his newly earned badge, and signed the Non-Disclosure Agreement and turned back to walk to his seat, accompanied by a standing ovation from the other Cadets of his class. Namely, Antoine Triplett who was whistling like he was in a desperate need for a taxi.

"Now everyone, you have received a call for arms into your cellphones. Within the text will be your new Superior Agent's name, and your first assignment. Good luck in the field." Noah said, signaling everyone to head off to their new jobs, after all, ceremonies at S.H.I.E.L.D never lasted long.

"So, where'd you get 'signed to ?" Triplett inquired immediately after Noah finished speaking, while they were making their way out of the room. Before Ward could answer his friend, another man spoke.

"He was assigned to my team." Coulson said with his signature smile.

"Coulson! You made it!" Ward exclaimed.

"I wouldn't have missed it for a billion dollars." Coulson replied, congratulating Ward with a gift of his own.

"What is this?" Ward asked, looking at the package handed to him. It was a decent size black box, with no logo or writing on top of it. Just large enough to fit a pistol into, or maybe some sort of necklace, he really had no idea as he studied the box.

"That's for you to find out. Open it whenever you feel like it. Now we should probably get going, our ride is waiting and we already have an operation picked." Coulson stated.

"Of course, sir." Ward replied. "If you could just give me a minute." He then asked.

"Go ahead." Coulson said, understanding the situation at hand all too well, and giving Ward some space, by moving away so he could have peace.

Ward turned towards Triplett, now Agent Triplett, who had been silently waiting and watching from the sidelines.

"Im going to miss you, bud." Ward said to Trip.

"Ima miss yo' stupid ass too bro, until we meet again." Triplett replied and gave Ward a man hug.

"See you on the other side, Agent Triplett." Ward said.

"See ya on the other side, Agent Ward." Triplett repeated before heading away.

Ward sighed at the goodbye. Antoine had been like family to him during Academy. They had been roommates since day one, and they both had similar backgrounds. Now Ward didn't know when he'd see the man again, but the bittersweetness of the goodbye was quickly given away at the promise of a new exciting adventure as a Field Agent, in Coulson's team. And so with pride and anticipation in his chest, Ward made his way to Coulson and said,

"Let's get this show on the road."

 **:*:**

Ward had met Fitz and Simmons, the top two graduates of Engineering and Biochemistry respectively, and was informed that they would be the team's scientists. He also met their Pilot, and second Field agent, Melinda May, whom he had heard a lot of stories about, back at the academy.

They had all settled onto the Bus, and were called into Mission Briefing.

"Our first operation is an extraction of a possibly valuable asset, but also possibly a huge danger to S.H.I.E.L.D" Coulson started. Scanning his gaze through everyone's eyes to see their reactions.

"So are we talking some kind of scientist right?" Ward threw in, a bit over excited about his first mission. In reply he got a firm look from Coulson and five words.

"No. A hacker, named: Skye."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** That's us done for the first chapter. It's a bit on the shorter side of things, but it will serve okay for a start. I want to clear a few things before I end things for this chapter, the first of which being that this story will always be updated, unless I Spesificaly state otherwise.

*SPOILERS ABOUT THE PAIRINGS*

Secondly, not all the pairings are decided, and to be honest none of the pairings will be set in stone throughout my story.

Meaning, if two people get together it doesn't mean they will stay together for the whole story and much less does it mean that they automatically will be together in the end.

Im a fan of happy endings, but I favor a good, less predictable story to a story that has every single relationship set in stone, but on the other hand I dont want you guys to think that this means that I will just for the sake of a seriously lame plot twist (Marvel, pun intended at you with the whole Captain America is actually Hydra thing.) break a relationship, dont worry I wont.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Time for the Journey to continue! I want to say a few things first though, firstly thank you for all the support! It really means the world to me. Secondly, Ward is now a Field Agent, not a Specialist. Also his personality differs somewhat due to him not being manipulated by Garrett, but rather trained and overlooked by Coulson. Anyway, on with the story!

 **IMPORTANT: :*: = Change in scene. :***: = Change in perspective.** Also, after every Author's Note at the end of the chapter, there will be a sneak peek into the next chapter!

* * *

 **Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D**

 **The Master of My Own Fate**

 **Chapter II - The Consultant**

"We located her, sir" Fitz said over the comms. Meanwhile Ward and Coulson had been discussing the upcoming operation in Coulson's office, located on the top floor of The Bus.

"Do you think we'll get anything from her? I mean based on the fact that she hacked S.H.I.E.L.D, I assume her equipment will have some kind of encryption to block off any unwanted 'visitors'." Ward reasoned while walking down the spiral staircase from Coulson's office.

"We will. The methods of interrogation and investigation vary." Coulson simply stated.

"But -" Ward was cut off by Coulson's strict look and words "It's your first day in the field Ward. There's a lot you haven't seen at the Academy." Coulson reminded.

"Besides, you should be getting your equipment ready, you are coming with me for the extraction." Coulson finally stated before heading into the mission control room.

Ward on the other hand was headed to the lab, where Simmons was already waiting for Ward to come and pick up the new taser-like weapon, which was - for now - called the 'Night Night gun', a name that Ward wasn't too fond of. The gun and the ammunition that contained a powerful dendrotoxin designed to knock out the target and keep them asleep for some time was designed by Fitz, while the dendrotoxin was Simmons' handiwork.

Ward stepped into the lab through a pair of sliding doors with bulletproof glass, and was immediately greeted by an over excited Simmons.

"I still can't believe Coulson chose me and Fitz for the team!" She rambled.

Ward was about to voice his thoughts on having two scientists that were not fit for combat on their team, but he decided against it thinking that it would be easier to just to keep his tongue to himself.

After all, there had been plenty of bullies at the Academy always picking on Ward and Triplett for their pasts. Of course the two prodigys had put everyone in their place during martial arts practices and close combat training, and well - everything else as well from shooting to running - but that didn't change the fact that he had gotten himself into that situation at the Academy for not controlling his tongue, and so he decided this time it would be different.

"The gun." Ward simply stated.

"Oh, why yes! It's right here -" Jemma went to pick up the gun from the nearby desk, complete with two sets of magazines filled with ammunition. "There you go!" She said, as she handed Ward the gun.

Ward just nodded as a response while he holstered the gun to his side.

"Oh, and Fitz and I designed a new communications earpiece for you and Coulson! We re-purposed the chips from your old ones." Simmons stated with a smile as she handed Ward the small earpiece.

"I wondered where my earpiece had disappeared." Ward replied with a accusing look as he fitted the small device into his ear. Simmons looked slightly guilty and went back to running some sort of test. Ward checked the rest of his equipment and just in time as he stepped out of the lab, Coulson came down.

"E.T.A 5 minutes, better get strapped in."

 **:*:**

"Take the next right." Fitz said over the comms system.

"You do realize that I can see our route from the screen in the car, right?" Ward answered, slightly annoyed. The only reply he got was Fitz mumbling something about wanting to be useful on their first operation.

"This should be it, Sir." Ward stated as he stopped the black armored SUV at the end of a narrow alley.

"She must be inside that van." Coulson pointed out. "You take point."

"Yes sir."

Ward took out his gun, and began to quietly make his way towards the van. He and Coulson reached it in no time and when they saw there was no one in the drivers seat, they decided to use the side entrance to break in.

"She's not a super soldier you know." Coulson stated.

"What do you mean? Of course I know that." Ward looked confused.

"The way you sneaked towards her van. You need to relax."Coulson argued with the tiniest smirk appearing on his face. Ward just rolled his eyes at his superior's playful mockery and so they opened the door to reveal a surprised hacker in the middle of some sort of tech stuff that Ward didn't understand. She looked at the two men and quickly understood the situation.

"Ugh, hey?" Skye tried. Too late. Ward used one of the small darts that his gun shot to poke her and before she knew it she lost consciousness.

 **:*:**

"Do you think it was the right call to use the dendrotoxin?" Ward asked Coulson as they were getting ready for interrogation on The Bus, eager for acceptance from his paragon.

The elder agent turned to face Ward before heading into the interrogation room. "Yes. Either that or a bag over her head." He answered.

They both walked into the interrogation room where the young hacker was sitting quietly. Coulson took a seat opposite of Skye. Ward remained standing beside the desk.

"So, tell us your name." Coulson said with a firm voice, and an expression set on not giving anything away. Ward wondered in his mind, if Coulson was using the same techniques that he was taught at the Academy, to remain his calm and very well contained composition.

"Skye." She answered.

"How about your real name?" Ward threw in with a harsh tone. Back at the Academy they had been told that the most important part of the interrogation was to get useful information. Truthful information. That was what Ward was going for. All he got in response was a look from Skye. He could see she was intimidated by him.

"That can wait. Mind telling us how you hacked our data stream?" Coulson continued.

"A magician never reveals her secrets." Skye answered in a sarcastic tone, but she kept her sight locked onto Ward.

"There's two ways to do this. You sure you want to do this this way?" Ward asked and slammed both his hands onto the table.

"Is one of them the easy way?" Skye continued her mockery over Ward.

"No." He replied with a tone as cold as ice.

"Skye." Coulson said, his voice sounding much more reasonable, almost kind. "You know we are going to get this information one way or another, right?"

"You can't be trusted. I won't tell you anything, your whole organization is against what I believe in. Freedom of information and what not." Skye argued back with a shocked look on her face. "Besides, you wont be able to crack the encryption on my equipment so you have nothing." She finished, looking pleased with herself.

"TELL US WHAT DID YOU GET FROM OUR DATASTREAM!" Ward lost it. She got under his skin so bad. He never anticipated this. Even the bullies back in the Academy didn't get even close to this much under Ward's skin, but her sarcasm and 'naive' outlook on life and the world made his blood boil. How could someone be this ignorant?

"Ward." Coulson simply stated as he got up from his seat and headed out of the door. Ward followed close after, closing the door behind him.

"Sir, I -" Ward started.

"You just ruined the interrogation. What do they even teach you in the Academy these days? Don't they tell you that we dont go for the aggressive interrogation on someone we may want as a consultant later?" Coulson said, and in his tone there was clear annoyment and disappointment.

"Well -" Ward tried to explain himself.

"How do you think she'll be able to trust us if we dont trust her? The first thing you did was to question her honesty when she told us her name. That's not a good basis for building trust." Coulson stated, still walking at a fast pace towards the lab.

Ward knew he had no arguments that he could use in order to defend himself. He just had to accept the situation and adjust. As he always did.

Coulson marched into the lab and grabbed what looked like an armored case. He opened it, revealing inside an injection gun, and one cartridge filled with what Ward assumed to be some sort of drug.

Ward didn't want to question Coulson, so he remained silent while Coulson and Ward himself made their way back to the interrogation room. As they stormed through the door, Skye snapped out of her thoughts. Ward took position behind Skye, in order to make it easier on Coulson to inject the serum.

"What is that?" Skye asked, with a gulp.

"This -" Coulson pointed at the serum "is QNB-T16, or more commonly known as the truth serum."

Skye tried to yank herself free from the chair, but Ward's grip was too tight.

"And now, you say we can't be trusted-" Coulson started as he made his way to the side Skye was on. And to everyone's great surprise he poked Ward with the needle. "Ask him anything you want. You have 1 hour." Coulson said with a smile. Just before he left the room he looked over his shoulder and said.

"You know Skye, we aren't bad people. We are just a line between the normal world and a much weirder world people arent ready for. We are in a position to do some good."And with that, Coulson closed the door.

Ward's mind was feeling fuzzy. He sat down opposite of Skye, and wanted to state that he would never tell anything to a hacker like her.

"I will never. Ever. Tell you any secrets of S.H.I.E.L.D" Ward said with a firm tone.

"Oh don't worry, its not S.H.I.E.L.D secrets im going to ask you about." She said with a spark in the corner of her eye. "So, why are you so angry at me? Am I getting under your skin?" She continued, while pacing over to Ward's side of the desk.

"Yes."

 _'I did not just say that'_

"Oh, is it because of my good looks or because of my personality?" She continued sarcastically.

"Personality. Your sarcasm and ignorance is annoying."

"So you dont think I look good?" Skye asked, playing hurt.

"Of course you do, you look stunning."

' _Shut up you idiot'_

"Aww, thank you. How sweet." Skye answered, holding in a laugh. She made her way right next to Ward and whispered in his ear.

"Have you killed people?" She inquired.

"No."

"Have you permamently injured people?" She pushed.

"Yes. Bad people, who were trying to injure good people." He reluctantly answered.

"Does your grandmother know about this?" Skye continued, what to her was a hilarious questioning.

"Gramsie?" Ward replied, with his face turning to one of remorse.

Skye let out a small laugh, before returning to her seat. She continued to press Ward about different trivial questions about his life. Mostly about what he did in the Academy, and so on.

"So, how come you joined S.H.I.E.L.D?" Skye asks, genuinely intrested in the question. She waited for the answer, but got none. Ward was silent. And after 20 seconds or so, Ward just slammed his head flat onto the desk, and started snoring.

 _'Did he just fall asleep on me?'_ Skye thought to herself. Before she could confirm for sure, the door of the interrogation room opened again, and this time it wasn't Coulson. It was May.

 **:***:**

The door to the interrogation room opened again. Unlike she expected, it wasn't the middle aged man at the door. It was a woman. Asian roots by the looks of it, in her late 30s, early 40s perhaps. She was dressed in a black leather jacket and pants, that made her look like she was about to go kick someone's ass. Big time. Which was totally possible, considering this was a super secret organization, which this woman was probably a part of.

"Coulson is waiting for you." The woman said without the expression on her face changing by the slightest bit.

Skye assumed that this Coulson, was the man that had been questioning her earlier, and so she got up and followed the woman through the plane. This was the first time she realized she was on a plane. They had been flying so smoothly she thought she had been on the ground. They eventually arrived in what was a nice office. Fairly large for it being positioned inside a plane, and full of old items, put onto shelves for showcasing. The woman guided her in but didn't follow her, and inside she already saw Coulson standing behind his desk.

"Come here, Skye." He said with a gentle and almost kind voice. She approached cautiously, as per normal in these kind of situations. Not that she got into this kind of situations often.

"Would you like to tell me why, you hacked onto our data stream?" Coulson asked, calmly. She hesitated. She actually thought that she might tell him. He after all poked his own agent with a truth serum to show her he is trustworthy, but then again.. it could all be a stunt. She decided to tell half the truth.

"I hacked into the data stream to find more information on something that I found out about recently. I wanted to dig deeper into what they were up to."

"Who are they?" Coulson calmly asked.

"The Centipede project. They have this serum that they use to strengthen people or something, I couldn't find anything about it on your database." She explained. The worry on Coulson's face was evident. It seemed that he couldn't hide it anymore.

"If what you say is true, and there is an organization that is trying to create supersoldiers, we have to stop them. But we'll need your help." Coulson said.

Skye was in utter shock. _They want me to help them?_ Before she could voice her shock, Coulson finished what he started.

"Would you like to help us, and become a consultant for S.H.I.E.L.D?"

That's when she remembered his words.

 _"We are in a position to do some good."_

* * *

 **Author's Note:** no. I am not following every single episode of the show, and then having it remade in a way where Ward just acts a little different, and ultimately doesn't betray the team. Ward maybe different, but he sure as hell isn't free of all the problems he has from growing up. The plan is to go ahead and make most of the chapters from here on forward, very canon divergent in terms of the operations they take and such. The common Nemesis' will still be the same for the most part however.

As I already said in the first author's note, thank you everyone for the support. This wouldn't be possible without your help. I hope I continue to receive reviews, ideas, and other feedback from you!

Until next time!

 **Sneak Peek - Chapter III:**

"There's been a new sighting of a 'Gifted'."

"Someone we are familiar with, sir?" Coulson addressed the other man.

"He's not on the index. We want you to bring him in." The other man ordered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Hey again guys! Time for another update! This time we are diving deeper into what Centipede is upto, and also we are going to see our first bit of real action in the field with the team! Again, Sneak Peek into chapter IV, is at the end of this chapter, after the second Author's Note. Also, again thank you everyone who reviewed, left feedback, followed / favorited you are all awesome! Okay let's be honest, every single person who reads this story is awesome in my opinion, thank you. Without further ado, enjoy!

* * *

 **Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D**

 **The Master of My Own Fate**

 **Chapter III - The Gifted**

"You mean, that you are giving me the opportunity to join S.H.I.E.L.D?" Skye asked, unable to understand what she had just heard. Coulson looked straight at her, or more like through her. It was like he could see straight into her soul.

"Technically yes, and no." Coulson answered, not bothering to explain further.

Skye's mind was running through a million different scenarios why Coulson would offer her the chance to join the super secret agency, that was apparently host to the weirdest show on earth. She also had a billion plus one questions about the whole situation, but could only get one out of her mouth.

"You do realize that you are offering me, a hacker - part of the Rising Tide - a chance to be a part of your team and giving me easier access to your databases?"

Unlike she expected Coulson's facial expression didn't change one bit. He didn't even flinch.

"I know." He replied calmly. "But I also believe in you enough that if that would be your true goal, you wouldn't be warning us, unless you were playing reverse psychology on us, but that's highly unlikely." Coulson finished with what Skye was beginning to think was his signature smile. It wasn't one of those 'I am genuinely happy' - smiles, but rather a smile that hid away what he was really thinking.

"What do you mean you 'believe in me'" Skye asked, out of curiosity. Did these people know something more about her than her name and that she was super sarcastic. Highly probable, given that they probably had surveillance data on every single person ever to live. Even though she had deleted all of her data from the registers a long time ago.

This time Coulson's expression changed a bit, ever so slightly, and for just a second. But it was enough for Skye to notice.

"What is it?" She pushed the question on. That was when Coulson caught up to the fact that she had noticed the slight change in his composure.

"I know you've been looking for this." Coulson took out a document. Just one paper, on top of it was a red stamp that read "Classified.", on the top right corner of the paper there was a logo of S.H.I.E.L.D

Skye gulped. Her breathing got heavier. Heartbeat rose, and mind began running at a million miles per hour. The document right in front of her eyes indeed was what she had been looking for all these years. It was the document that could finally reveal her the truth about her past. No one at the orphanage knew where she had came from. None of her foster families never cared about where she came from. This could be her chance to finally get the answers she had always wanted. Before she could say anything though, a man's voice spoke over the communications. It was no one she was familiar with, but the tone was very deep.

"There's been a new sighting of a 'Gifted'."

"Someone we are familiar with, sir?" Coulson addressed the other man.

"He's not on the index. We want you to bring him in." The other man ordered.

"We will take care of it, Director Fury." Coulson answered, before shutting the comms channel. Coulson put the document away and walked past Skye towards the door of his office.

"Where are you going?" Skye asked Coulson. "And what or who are the Gifted?" Skye inquired. Coulson just signaled Skye to follow, to which she reluctantly obeyed. She was so close to the document that would shed light on her past, but then again, it wasn't worth ruining the chance of getting to know everything S.H.I.E.L.D knew about her, instead of just one document - and so, she followed Coulson.

They walked down from Coulson's office and went straight into the Mission Control room, where Skye could see some others already waiting. As they walked in she was glad to see she could atleast recognize two out of the four people that were there. There was the woman that had led her to Coulson's office and then there was Ward who seemed fairly pissed off. Aswell as two other people. A man and a woman. Both around the same height, likely British judging by the accents.

Everyone's attention was directed towards Coulson and her, probably because they wanted to know what was going on. Or so she atleast thought.

"Everyone, this is Skye." Coulson started. "Skye, this is my team. These are Leopold Fitz, and Jemma Simmons." He continued, introducing the two british folk to her.

"Pleasure to meet you." Jemma said, with a shy smile. " 'ello there." Fitz greeted, with a smile of his own. Skye just smiled and nodded in response.

"They are the two scientists of our team. I believe that there is very little that these two cannot achieve if they really put their minds into it." Coulson said, making Fitz and Simmons both blush a little out of pride. "This is agent Melinda May." Coulson continued his round of introductions, signaling towards the woman that had led her to Coulson's office. May didn't say anything as a greeting. Only a small nod.

"And I believe you've already met Agent Ward." Coulson finally completed, with a small smirk appearing across his face.

"Yes, we've been introduced to each other." her gaze turning towards Ward, with a small mischievous smile sneaking onto her lips. Ward just rolled his eyes in frustration and sighed.

"Sir, mind telling us why you called all of us here?" Ward tried to sidetrack the discussion.

"Maybe he has another operation for us!" Fitz said with an excited tone, while tinkering with what looked like a small drone to her.

Coulson walked over to huge monitor that was positioned across the wall of the mission control room and activated what she thinks was a holotable. She didn't know those actually existed, she had only seen them in Sci-Fi movies and such, but then again, this was S.H.I.E.L.D they were talking about. Coulson clicked on a few buttons, making documents and pictures appear across the screen. All about one individual.

"Mike Peterson."

Everyone's focus shifted from Coulson to the documents displayed on the monitor.

"He was spotted by civilians - and I quote "tearing through a brick wall without harming himself." Coulson clicked another touchscreen button and a video started playing over the monitor. In the video, a man indeed hit both of his hands through a brick wall, prior to tearing a hole into the wall by ripping the bricks out one by one.

"Basics, sir?" Ward asked, his sight focused on the screen in front of him.

"Born 28 of august 1979. 6'3", has a son - Ace. He is believed to have obtained his inhuman strength from an unknown source, and this is why it's critical we bring him in unharmed." Coulson shed light onto the situation.

Now, it was Fitz's turn to speak.

"Did anyone notice what he had on his arm?"

Everyone shook their head.

"Rewind the video if you would May." Fitz asked politely. "Aand stop!" On the man's right arm, peeking ever so slightly from under his hoodie was a sticking out a device that appeared to have some sort of orange, gooey serum inside it's chambers.

"I know what that is." Skye spoke out, half by accident. She didn't even notice what she had said aloud until everyone's sight turned towards her. "I mean, when I hacked into your datastream, I was looking for more information on a thing we found out about some time ago - Centipede Project. In the intel that we obtained, there were pictures of multiple men having the same exact device on their hand." She continued.

"We, as in The Rising Tide hacker group you are a part of?" Ward spat out. Suddenly Skye felt the urge to protect herself from the judgement of Ward. To stand up for what she believed in.

"We prefer hacktivists, but a pseudo-anarchist type like you would never understand the difference." She said sarcastically in response. Before Ward could retaliate with another insult, Coulson stepped in.

"Anything else you know about this Skye?"

"No, nothing. Except that there is a lot of them, and that the Serum's effects are mainly a tremendous increase in power and a rise in the resistance against physical damage to tissue. Meaning that -"

"They are trying to create super-soldiers." Coulson concluded.

"That's not what I was going to say, but okay." Skye muttered to herself.

"What kind of organization would want to create super-soldiers?" Ward inquired.

"A well funded one. Possibly international." Coulson answered.

"Fitz and Jemma, it's highly possible that the serum that these people have created is unstable, otherwise I believe we would already have super-soldiers roaming around. Try to figure out what could cause an effect like this."

"Yes sir." Jemma and Fitz replied in unison and made their exit from the room.

"May, take heading to the last known location of Mike Peterson. Get us there. Get us there fast."

"Skye, dig up any further info you can on Centipede. We want to know everything and anything we can." Coulson continued.

"You took my laptop remember?" Skye reminded.

"You will find all of you belongings from the Lab downstairs." Coulson nodded, and so Skye left in search for the lab and her beloved laptop. They better have not touched hula hula girl.

 **:***:**

"Sir, with all due respect you are bringing a high risk prisoner into our operation is not a good idea."

"As of now, she's a consultant and I expect the agent I trained to treat her like one." Coulson replied in a strict voice.

"But -" Ward was about to argue.

"But your disagreement and concern will be noted. Dismissed."

 **:*:**

The hour was late. He wasn't sure how late to be exact. He had been reading a book about the winter war of Finland. A subject that interested him. War that was. Why two people, two countries, or two organizations would fight against each other wasn't something he understood. Well, he understood the concept of war all too well - being raised in the Academy and having gone through multiple lessons going over S.H.I.E.L.D's history with HYDRA and so on, but still he felt like peace could be achieved without the means of war, but perhaps that was just a utopia. He put the book down, preparing to get up and go to his bunk to rest for the trials that tomorrow would bring but instead he was greeted by Skye.

"Hey." She said, in a kind warmhearted voice. He said nothing in response. Just sat back onto the couch. Skye walked next to him and eyed the drink and the book Ward had put onto the table.

"You know, you and I started on the wrong foot." Skye started.

"Skye - dont." He said, but regardless of his efforts Skye pushed on.

"I just wanted to apologize. I dont trust easily, and you grabbing me out of my van wasn't the best basis to start building trust, and I still dont trust this whole thing completely, you go against everything I believe in, but Coulson told me you are in a position to do some good. I want to help. All I want to do is help, the way I believe im helping is by cracking servers and releasing information to the public. Information everyone should be able to see and read, but I want to see your way. I want to understand your reasoning, if not for anything else, just to maybe clear some prejudice I have about your organization. So what Im trying to say is sorry for purposedly getting under your skin, and pushing you." She explained with her face lighting up with hope that Ward would understand.

"Are you done?" Ward replied, his tone cold and determined.

"Yes." She replied, with a sliver of hope still evident in her voice, although it was fading away. Fast.

"You and I see the world differently. I don't believe in the utopistic way that you see things, because I know what happens behind the scenes. How close to ending the world has really come to, without the people even knowing it."

"Dont you think people have a right to know?" She asked, sitting down onto the table in front of Ward.

"No. They are not ready for the truth. If they had known about how Hydra was this close -" Ward picnhed his fingers close together. "to setting off the nuclear weapons of Russia during the cold war, they would have panicked. Anarchy would have broken out. It's better that they remain ignorant."

"But -" Skye was about to argue, only to be interrupted by Ward's tough tone.

"You are a consultant of S.H.I.E.L.D, for now. And for now, I shall treat you as one as protocol demands. But we have fundamental differences that make it impossible for us to agree on this." Ward stated as he signaled Skye to leave. "If you dont mind, I was in the middle of something."

Ward grabbed his book, and continued reading. Skye turned to leave but before she left she took one look at the cover of the book and said.

"You know, I dont want to make war with you. 'Make love, not war.'"

Ward just scoffed at her words, but found himself thinking about what she said before going to sleep. The famous quote by Gershon Legman "Make love, not war."

That was the first moment, that he thought that maybe the world wasn't all that black and white. And maybe Skye, could be a person that he could grow to stand, and who knows, maybe even like.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** As someone may or may not have noticed, I always prior to releasing a new chapter, update the old ones and fix any grammar errors I might find, but also rephrase things slightly. Just in case if someone is reading the story through again and is wondering why some bits are slightly different. Don't worry though, nothing that is a major part of the plot will be changed afterwards in these updates. They are just to make the earlier chapters look as polished as I can make them with my current skill level. Anyways, thank you again for reading and I hope to see you next time! Take care!

 **Sneak Peek - Chapter IV:**

"You are a good guy Mike. You can still do the right thing."

"What is it worth when the world sees me as a freak? As a monster?"

"I bet there's atleast one person that doesn't think that way, think about your son."

"Make that two." She said, taking a step towards the highly unstable man.


End file.
